Not so relevant but it reminded me of something.
I remember reading a Telegram or Signal thread where Ukrainian pilots trained to fly the F-1X planes preferred their old MiGs because they say Soviet/Russian weapons and vehicles of war are built for worst-case scenario combat (aka how actual wars of defense work) where you might have to use things mothballed in some warehouse or dirty, or amateurishly calibrated or used beyond their supposed parameters because that’s war and Moscow has to account for a scenario where they have to dig in and fight a bloody, miserable battle like Leningrad. Whereas American weapons and vehicles are made for best-case scenario combat because they’re designed for offensive war and lets be real are successful based on how well the weapons manufacturers present their offers to the DoD.
But because they simply need more planes, and obviously Russia won’t sell them new ones, they have to put on a show and suck the Americans dick for the F-16s because they don’t have much better options.